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We were just given a piano and I plan on learning to play and then help my daughters learn.

I know there are programs out there that help adults learn how to play. Is anyone familiar with them? Can you recommend one?

To answer in advance: No I will not consider getting a teacher. We just plain cannot afford lessons.

I am an eager learner and know if I have the right stuff, I can really teach myself how to do this. I am not very familiar with music at all. I like to sing, but thats about the extent of it. So I would need something for dummies LOL!

there are some instruction books for beginners that you can find at any bookstores (such as 'teach yourself playing piano' stuff). any such a book could get you started. but to be good technically, you also need to read some music theory and piano technique books for music understanding and physical part of playing skills. i believe one can learn to play piano without teachers as long as one is determined enough and one's purpose of playing is not for a music/performance career.

One thing that books can not give you is feedback on your playing. So use a tape recorder, or better yet video if you can afford one. What you do and what you think you do are often quite different. Also you might be able to mooch some occasional instruction from a friend or neighbor who plays. Good luck

Thanks for the replies. You are really helping me understand this more. I figured that I would need someone with experience to "help" out every now and then. My Aunt is an accomplished pianist and is willing to give me advice sometimes, she just doesnt have time to give me actual lessons .

Should I just get on google and search for teach yourself piano lessons? LOL!

One quick idea. I know someone who couldn't afford lessons but who bartered her services in exchange for lessons. So. Maybe if you have some skills that a teacher might need, you could work something out?

I have it and it is very good at explaining the piano, harmony, basic music theory as well as teaching you how to make lovely sounds from the beginning. It is done is such a way that even a real novice can learn well from it.

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You will be 10 years older, ten years from now, no matter what you do - so go for it!

One quick idea. I know someone who couldn't afford lessons but who bartered her services in exchange for lessons. So. Maybe if you have some skills that a teacher might need, you could work something out?

I know my teacher has a student who is a massage therapist, they trade lessons for massages.

Seriously though - I'd definitely try to get your aunt on board at first, just to make sure you are physically approaching the instument properly. Bad habits formed early will be hard to break, and you can actually injur yourself if you spend too much time at the keys with improper posture and hand positioning.

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"You look hopefully for an idea and then you're humble when you find it and you wish your skills were better. To have even a half-baked touch of creativity is an honor." -- Ernie Stires, composer

RKSV1 Bob,Thanks for all the links. Some good stuff to follow up on (as if I didn't have enough, already!)I've worked with a some of Duane Shinn's tapes, also Mark Harrison's books, and can recommend them both.I studied with Dick Grove (via video), and Mark Harrison uses much the same approach (they worked together at the Grove school). Really gets at the heart of the matter.

Let me see if I understand this ... you can not afford a teacher, but are willing to spend your money on instructional DVDs?

With all due respect, seek out a teacher and take just a few lessons so you can be sure your kids are using correct technique. The reading part of music is quite easy and you can teach yourself that ... learing how to use the correct set of muscles is a one on one situation.

My advice is to find your children a good piano teacher when they start. Do not plan to teach them yourself even after several years of self learning. You can help them if you teach yourself before hand or you can even learn with the them by attending the lessons with them, doing all the exercises teacher assigned to them, etc.

I have been working on my own for almost a year. I did get some help early on from my mother who played a heck of a lot when she was younger. You are going to need some help early on and I am sure your Aunt can do that.

I used Faber's Adult Piano Adnventures. Just get the first book without the CD. I found the CD of no use as it did not offer examples but was instead accompaniment. Their Christmas book was also a big help as you know the songs so you already know the timing.

Have fun,Steve

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"The true character of a man can be determined by witnessing what he does when no one is watching".

At first I tot of learning myself by buying the cd and I bought one zzzz unfortunately it touches very little on the basics and just after 15 mins or so it goes straight to the song "Oh give me a home" .... I am struggling hard as the method it taught is on rhymatic pattern and not playing melody on the right hand ??? So it confuses me as when I explore more on the net.

So at the end of the day, I think it will really worthwhile to spend a few hundred bucks at least in the beginning to get the basics right. Otherwise, it is so difficult to rectify when you are so use to the wrong method.

By the way, how do you find a good teacher ? Is teacher having ABRSM grade 8 good enough ?

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An apple a day keep the doctor away, A smile a day chase your sadness away, A chat a day drive all loneliness away, And a prayer a day never keep our Jesus awayAnd let's praise our Lord, our King, our God all the way ....

I've had several adult friends who put their children in piano lessons, expecting that they themselves would learn at the same time and avoid the fee.

It seemed to work at first, but after a short time none of them could keep up with their kids progress and they all gave up.

I don't know all the reasons why, but it suggests that the strategy of learning first then teaching your kids may not be optimal. I think that teachers who teach kids get pretty good at it and do better than you might.

Here's what I would do. Pay for a couple of lessons yourself, avoid some early bad habits. then work on your own for awhile, then go back and get a couple more lessons. After that you might get by on self study and some video backup.

The "short time" you mean is like roughly how long and what can an adult pick up from a child ?

Supposing if the child attend the lessons for a couple of let's say 6 months, do u think the parent can learn same as well if he/she also practise and do all exercises given by the teacher ?

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An apple a day keep the doctor away, A smile a day chase your sadness away, A chat a day drive all loneliness away, And a prayer a day never keep our Jesus awayAnd let's praise our Lord, our King, our God all the way ....

Whether one can learn without a teacher depends on one's aspirations for oneself or one's children. In the beginning, there are many things to learn, such as reading music and finding the right notes on the keyboard. I am sure many people can teach themselves how to do these things. Many teachers working with some good method books can also teach this area well enough.

However, proper playing technique is another thing. A beginner might not realize that playing the piano involves more than just striking the right notes, but how the notes are struck matter greatly as well. While books and videos can describe and demonstrate hand position etc., it is not quite so easy to accurately translate what is read and seen into action. This is where a good teacher can save you years of bad habits by close observation and timely feedback.

Ask yourselves why concert pianists sound so much better than your average amateur player even in simple pieces such as those from Bach's Anna Magdalena notebook or Für Elise (the opening bits)? It has to do with their ability to produce a "full" sound with varied "colour". This comes from good technique, which I firmly believe, requires a good teacher to work with.

The problem, then, is finding a good teacher. The teacher with whom I studied the longest produced at least 2 students who went on to become concert artists, but she never taught me proper technique. Another teacher has a PhD in music but she was more interested in teaching interpretation. My current teacher (no. 6) only has a BMus, but is quick to spot even the tiniest problems with technique and more importantly, is able to tailor her solutions to match each individual's quirks and abilities. She is also great on intepretation.

So the bottom line is at which level is one willing to settle? My approach is to push myself to the limit of my abilities and that demands pefection in the most minor of details. However, I suspect that most people are quite happy just to be able to play songs at Christmas and parties, in which case, one can get by with just knowing the proper notes and chords.

Bear in mind that if proper technique is not established from the beginning, undoing ingrained habits is a long and painful process. And bad technique will hamper progress eventually.

Luckychwee, whether a teacher is good depends on whether he/she knows the proper technique in the first place and whether the person is an effective teacher. Many years ago, I obtained an ATCL (a kind of diploma, beyond Grade 8 ABRSM) in piano teaching, but I know my technique sucked. I was just very good at the written papers and the viva voce. If I were to teach your child then, you can be sure your child's bad habits would have gone unnoticed by me, since I did not even know how to play properly myself. Perhaps you ought to ask the prospective teacher what standard the Grade 8 is; i.e. distinction, merit or mere pass. At least if the teacher obtained a distinction, that would mean he/she can play well.

Roxanne, nice post! I learned rather late in life (at 28, I'm now 54) that I was using the incorrect set of muscles and it took me about three months before I could play with the least amount of effort without having to think about it. I was very depressed in starting all over with the 'basics'.

My teachers in high school and several teachers in college (I was an organ major at that time) never really discussed proper technique with me. Technique is the first thing I discuss with every student.

there are ways beside having teachers to acquire proper techniques through reading some great technique books written by some well known pianists or teachers or even some learning videos/dvds. of course, having a good teacher is the best way to learn piano, but it doesn't mean someone cannot play properly due to the fact of not having a teacher. there are many talented and intelligent people around who know how to use available resources to teach themselves, and by doing so and watching closely on their own playing habits comparing with the techniques taught from books or video/dvds to make proper adjustments on their own. there is nothing which cannot be learned for those who are determined in improving themselves on technique. to say those piano learners with no teacher can only learn to hit notes or chords but no proper techniques is no more than insult on their intelligence. there are also people with teachers who never learned proper techniques too. so, the fact is that in any category of piano learners, good or bad learners exist, just as the same to say there are good or bad teachers.

i actually didn't want to say anymore on this issue , but felt that it is dangerous to make such a generalization on piano learning to categorize people into only 2 groups: those who learn from teachers and those who don't with assumption that only the 1st group could play piano properly.

I'm with signa! Especially with the help of modern technology - sound recordings, videos, computers, broadband internet, etc., and all the great teachers who have committed their teaching to various media, and the great musicians who have recorded their music.